Ruling: Kansas can strip Planned Parenthood of federal funds

WICHITA, Kan. — An appeals court has overturned a federal judge’s order that forced Kansas to keep funding two family planning clinics despite a state law aimed at stripping a Planned Parenthood chapter of federal money.

At issue in Tuesday’s ruling is money distributed to states under Title X, a federally financed family planning program. A Kansas law requires the state to first allocate the Title X money to public health departments and hospitals, which leaves no funds for specialty family planning clinics like Planned Parenthood.

A lower court had ruled that Kansas couldn’t take the money away from Planned Parenthood.

But a divided federal appeals court in Denver overturned that ruling, rejecting Planned Parenthood’s claims that losing the money amounted to a violation of free-speech rights for associating with abortion providers.

Here at MaineToday Media we value our readers and are committed to growing our community by encouraging you to add to the discussion.

To ensure conscientious dialogue we have implemented a strict no-bullying policy. To participate, you must follow our Terms of Use. Click here to flag and report a comment that violates our terms of use.